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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn opens abroad this week (the U.S. waits until December 21), so what better time to confirm that producer Peter Jackson will direct the second installment of the franchise? Most critics have been pretty high on the commercial-looking performance capture action movie, whether or not they have a history with Hergé‘s comics, so a second Tintin is a safe bet.

Even though they've had a quiet year, with "Source Code" and "50/50" being their biggest hits, Summit is merely laying low, with two larger efforts slotted for Christmas time releases: "The Darkest Hour," and some obscure vampire film about marriages and babies. It makes sense that the next step is for the studio to go from mini-major to major, and they're doing that in a big way today, announcing release dates for a few pretty large upcoming films.

Plus Updates On Michael Winterbottom Projects 'The Promised Land,' 'Bailout,' 'Seven Days' And 'Paul Raymond's Wonderful World Of Erotica' Relationships are key in the filmmaking world, particularly in terms of actually getting the damn things made, and it's no surprise that many of the most successful filmmakers are ones with long-running close partnerships with producers. One of the closest today is that between eclectic filmmaker Michael Winterbottom and his long-term producing partner Andrew Eaton. The pair first worked together on the 1994 TV series "Family," founding Revolution Films together around the same time, and have made a film almost every year.

Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden opened last night on London's West End (equivalent of NYC's Broadway) Harold Pinter Theatre, with Thandie Newton starring in the play's revival; and while most critics gave good enough marks to the overall production (3 out of 5 stars is about the average rating), they weren't as kind to the actress' performance, which is unfortunate.

Silver Tongues is in the running for the Gotham's Audience Award. After winning the Audience Award at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival, the film has gone on to great festival successes most recently winning Best Screenplay at the Athens International Film Festival, and coming in 2nd for the audience award at San Sebastian.

There is no greater arthouse bromance right now than the one between director Steve McQueen and actor Michael Fassbender. The duo first paired up on "Hunger," which brought them both some considerable attention, and this year they are dominating the fall movie chatter with the NC-17 sex-addiction drama "Shame." They've already lined up their next collaboration, "Twelve Years A Slave," which also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, and now one of the biggest actors in the world is lining up to join them.

The European Film Academy will honor Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen with their European Achievement in World Cinema Award at the December 3 event in Berlin. High cheek-boned Mikkelsen--from his performance as villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale to his starring roles in Susanne Bier's Open Hearts and After the Wedding, plus Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising, Ole Christina Madsen's Flame & Citron and Jan Kounen's Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky--is an immensely watchable actor, and one of our favorites (some trailers below). On receiving the award, Mikkelsen sent the following statement:

John Cusack, who's been busy with James McTeigue's The Raven (March 2012; the goods from Comic-Con), Lee Daniels' The Paperboy (in post; details) and Scott Walker's Frozen Ground (filming) has boarded The Number Station, along with Malin Akerman. Directed by Dane Kasper Barfoed and written by F. Scott Frazier, the action thriller will begin shooting in November.